7^- ^. /L 




THE SPANISH WAR, BONDS, SILVER, GREENBACKS, 
INCOME TAX, AND PATRIOTISBl. 



REMARKS 



CHAMP CLA 



V y 



OK IVIISSOURI, 



■'^' IN THE 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



Tuesday, May 3, 1898. 



WA S H I jM G X O M. 

1898, 



E7// 



n < ..' 






^o049 



■SPEECH 



V CHAMP CLAEK. 
^* 

^e House Laving under consideration the bill (H. R. 3301) for the relief 
^'Henry J. Fleming- 
Mr. CLARK of Missouri said: 

Mr. Speaker 

Mr. BRUMM. Mr. Speaker, I hope we sliall now do something 
toward disposing of this matter of "unfinished business." 

Mr. CLARK of Missouri. I hope the gentleman from Penns}-!- 
vania will not insist upon that for a few moments, as I would 
like to have a chance to give my views upon this question. 
[Laughter and cries of "Go on! "J 

Mr. Speaker, when the civil war closed there was a man by the 
name of James Pankey, who had been a captain in old Frank 
Wolford's First Kentucky Union Cavalrj% one of the very best 
fighting regiments that ever wore a Federal uniform. He got 
back home safely after the struggle was over and had everything 
that a man needs to have in life. He was a rich and an exceed- 
ingly crusty man. Buthe ran at one time for the position of justice 
of the peace. He had no possible use for the office, being rich, and, 
on account of his gruff manners, was not fit to run. There was 
some curiosity to know why he sought such a place. 

A friend took him out one daj;and asked him the question point 
blank: "Captain, what on'ear^h do you v.'ant this thing for?" 
He said: "By the Lord Haviy, sir, I want an opportunit)' to ex- 
press my opinions." [Laughter.] Now, I am in Pankey "s fix. 
[Laughter and applause.] And before proceeding let me make one 
single personal remark: There is not a man on the floor of the 
House for whom I have aniore tender pc'rsonalaffcction than I have 
for the gentleman from New York, ]Mr. Amos J. CUiMMiNGS 

Mr. CUMMINGS. And the feeling is reciprocated. 

Mr. CLARK of Missouri (continuing). And he knows it, and 

2 3312 



I know that it is reciprocated. But I say, in perfect respect for 
him and in the presence of all of these witnesses, that he has made 
the most outrageous speech on the floor of the House to-day that 
ever, in my judgment, was delivered in this body. [Laughter and 
applause.] 

I do not care anything about his assault on the gontleuian from 
Washington [Mr. Lewis]. That is not '-my pie." [Laughter.] 
I have no hand in it. [Laughter.] But when he commits the 
" unpardonable sin"' of putting into this discussion the statement 
that a Democratic Administration issued $300,000,000 of bonds in 
a time of peace I deny his right to be the spokesman for my party, 
at least on that subject, for the Administration which did that 
foolish and wicked thing was not Democratic, and has been long 
since repudiated by every true Democrat between the two oceans. 
Mr. CUMMINGS. Will the gentleman allow me an inter- 
ruption? 
Mr, CLARK of Missouri. Certainly. 

Mr. CUMMINGS. I will state for the gentleman's benefit that 
the delegation from Missouri voted unanimously to nominate 
Grover Cleveland in Chicago, although they had no instructions. 
[Laughter and applause.] . 

Mr. GAINES. Yes, they did; but the Missourians supposed, 
and they had a right to suppose, that he would stand by the party 
platform. 

Mr. CLARK of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, there has been no Dem- 
ocratic Administration in this country for a great many years— 
not since the 4th of March, 1861. 

If it were not for my personal affection for the gentleman from 
New York, I would inaugurate a movement among the Democrats 
in this and the'bther end of the Capitol to read out of the Demo- 
cratic party by name every man on this floor who voted for the 
bond bill the other day. [Applause on the Democratic side.] To 
issue bonds when there is no earthly necessity for it is an un-Demo- 
cratic un-American and unpatriotic performance. Genuine Demo- 
crats do not propose that such action shall be charged to them. 

In the language of a celebrated man on a celebrated occasion 
here, we want to know "where we are at." The time has come 
for us to ascertain who is who. He that is not for us is against us. 

3343 



Grover Cleveland never v/as a Democrat in the true sense of 
the word, and I can prove that, Mr. Speaker, by the gentleman 
from New York [Mr. Cummixgs] himself. In August, 1893, I 
heard him say in the cloakroom, "Blame his old soul, he never 
was a Democrat." Only he used a stronger and more classic 
word than " blame." There are but two men in all the hoary reg- 
isters of time that Cleveland's name ought to be associated with — 
Judas Iscariot and Benedict Arnold. Shades of Arnold, for- 
give the profanation! 

He at least did not hire a substitute to do his fighting. The 
blood which he shed at the storming of Quebec and on the heights 
of Saratoga was American blood. The shattered leg which was 
buried in his grave of obloquy was an American leg, broken by 
British bullets in the holy cause of liberty. 

Arnold was at one time both a hero and a patriot. He fell head 
long from his high estate to everlasting infamy. 

Upon reflection, I think really I ought to beg the pardon of Judas 
Iscariot, because after his treason he did have the grace to go out 
and hang himself. [Laughter.] 

Mr. LACEY. Was not Judas Iscariot the original silver man? 

Mr. CLARK of Missouri. No; so far as I know, a Republican 
was the original silver man. The first free-silver speech ever 
made in the American Congi'ess was made by William B. Alli- 
son, now a Senator from Iowa, a man you worship. [Applause 
on the Democratic side.] Now, some of the rest of you Republi- 
cans ask some questions, and get a lick on the solar plexus. 
[Laughter.] The Missourians did vote for Grover Cleveland in 
Chicago. 

Mr. CUMMINGS. Was he not a Democrat then? 

Mr. CLARK of Missouri. No. We thought he was; but we 
were sadly mistaken. He stole the livery of Heaven to serve the 
Devil in. He played a colossal bunco game on the Democratic 
party. He was the tool of the plutocrats masquerading as a 
Democrat. 

I^Ir. MITCHELL. Why did you vote for him, then? 

Mr. CLARK of Missouri. The reason we nominated him at 
Chicago was because we Southern and Western Democrats fol- 
lowed the disastrous example of Sut. Lovcngood's daddy and all 

turned fools at once. We did not want him then; thatfallen arcli- 
304:} 



angel, John Gf. Carlisle, was our first choice; hut we thought Cleve- 
land was the only Democrat that could be elected, when the truth 
is, Mr. Speaker, that in 1893 any Democrat who had never been in 
the penitentiary could have been elected President of the United 
States if he had been nominated. That was a Democratic year. 

I will tell you why we nominated him. We nominated him 
because he sent that free trade December message to Congress in 
1887. And here, at the end of a losing fight on the tariff question, 
I run up the defiant banner of free trade, that honest men may 
rally around it in the days to come. We will win at last. Truth 
always conquers in the end. We thought that Cleveland was 
honestly a free trader. Along in August, 1894, I walked down 
the aisle over on the Republican side. A distinguished Repub- 
lican, for whose genius I have xirofound admiration, said to me: 
"How are you coming on in getting offices from Cleveland?" I 
said, "1 am having no astonishing success." He said, "It does 
not make any dilterence. The only President I could ever get one 
from was Arthur." "But," I said, " I want to tell you, notwith- 
standing he has betrayed us on the money question, if it be trus 
that Cleveland sent that December message to Congress under the 
circumstances that I heard he did, he deserves to rank as a great 
statesman and patriot. " He inquired, ' 'What did you hear? " I said, 
"Why, I heard he wrote that message, and then that Senator Gor- 
man and all the rest of the time-servers went to him and said, ' Mr. 
President, you leave that message alone and you are sure to be re- 
elected; but send that to Congress and it jeopardizes your chances,' 
and Cleveland said, 'The Presidency be damned. The thing is 
right. The people are suffering, and tliey ought to have relief. 
I will send the message and let the conseqiiences take care of 
themselves.' " 

This distinguished Republican towhom I was talking said: "My 
friend, that is all a fairy tale. There is not a syllable of truth in 
it." I asked, " What is the truth?" He replied: ' ' I will tell you. 
By that battle-flag idiocy of his, and by sitting up all night writ- 
ing vetoes of $8-pension bills, Grover Cleveland had alienated the 
affections of Northern Democrats, and he sent that message to 
Congress as a cold, demagogical bid to rope in the Southern Dem- 
ocrats for the nomination in 1888;" and, before God, I believe the 
Republican was telling me the truth, although they rarely tell it. 
3343 



c 

[Laughter.] And if the Republican did tell me the truth, then 
Grover Cleveland instead of being a statesman is the chief of 
demagogues. 

Now, Mr. Speaker, we voted for Cleveland on that ground. I 
am afraid we shall never get forgiveness for it. His conduct 
on the financial qiiestion is not the main charge that I bring 
against Cleveland bad and un-Democratic as it was. We took him, 
knowing that he differed with us somewhat on the silver ques-- 
tion, but we believed that as an honest man — because then we 
believed he was honest— if he accepted the nomination on that 
platform, knowing the overwhelming sentiment in the Democratic 
party in favor of silver, he would subordinate his private opinion 
to the general Democratic opinion and carry out what we wanted. 

That's what he should have done. Otherwise he ought to have 
declined the nomination. Men are not forced to be President. 
They are not compelled to hold office. At least I have not found 
it so in Missouri. But the main charge that I bring against him — 
and I have always been a free trader— is this, that he not only un- 
did us on the money question and used the patronage of his great 
office ruthlessly and corruptly to get the Sherman law repealed, 
because when we first met here in conference we had a majority 
of this House against that repeal, but when we came to vote on it 
we coiild only muster a paltry 101 votes— the worst charge that 
will be laid at his door in the day of judgment is that he betrayed 
a great party on the tariff question. 

Yes. Grover Cleveland by his unfaithfulness did the cause of 
free trade more harm than all the McKinleys and Dingleys could 
do in one hundred years. He could not kill it. Nobody can do 
that; but he did set it back for perhaps a generation. 

The tarilf barons ought to build a monument to his odoriferous 
memory. 

And, my friend from New York, I want to say this, that the 
four worst years that the Democratic party ever saw were the four 
years that Grover Cleveland lived in your city, between his first 
and his second terms. It is an old saying that evil communications 
corrupt good morals, and so they did to him. He never lifted his 
finger to help us pass a tariff bill. Indeed the letter he wrote can- 
cerning the Wilson bill was in 189-1 everywhere used effectively 



as a Republican campaign document and defeated some 40 or 50 
Democratic candidates for Congress. 

I believe now, and I sliall always believe, that on the day when 
lie stood in the sleet and snow and rain, the worst day I ever saw 
(and I have been caught in a Kansas blizzard), the day when ho 
was sworn in for his second term, he held it in his pudgy fist to 
keep the Democratic party in power in this country for a quarter 
of a century, and all that he had to do to work that beneficent re- 
sult was to do what he had solemnly promised to do by word of 
mouth, by speech, in writing, in every way in which a man can 
be committed to do a thing— and that was to cut the robber tariff 
to a purely revenue basis. That was the issue on which we won 
the sweeping victory of 1892— a victory the fruits of which turned 
to apples of Sodom on our lips, through the action as well as the 
nonaction of Grover Cleveland. It is sickening and pitiful to 
think of what is and then of what might have been had we ejected 
a real Democrat in 1802. 

Mr. Speaker, no party in the entire historj- of the human race 
ever made such a long, terrific, courageous, and splendid fight, con- 
fronted with so many difficulties, as the Democratic party did from 
the close of the war to the close of the polls in 1892. Then we 
came into possession of all the branches of the National Govern- 
ment, or we thought we did. We then deemed the 4th of March, 
1893, a red-letter day in our calendar. Really it was the most 
calamitous day we ever saw. We had declared on a thousand 
stumps that the Morrill bill was a monstrosity and that the Mc- 
Kinley tariff bill was the worst bill ever put upon the statute 
books; and it was until my distinguished friend from Maine got 
his bill put there last year. [Laughter and applause on the Demo- 
cratic side.] 

What ought he to have done? He held in his hands the fortunes 
of the Democratic party— a sacred trust. He ought to have called 
us together on the loth of March, 1893. I honor Mr. McKinley 
for doing that. Then we would have passed a good tariff bill. 
We never did pass one. Then we would have had fifteen months 
to try to experiment with the thing before the election. Any 
general tariff bill demoralizes business temporarily. If we were 
right, the people would have recognized it and rewarded us; ii 

3342 



we were wrong, we did not deserve to carry the elections. But 
here we were, fifteen months after the election, never having 
changed one sj'llable of the McKinley bill; and when we did change 
it, we only cut it down 10 per cent. I never hear the Republicans 
talk about the Wilson bill being a free- trade measure that I do not 
recall the words of Sir John Falstaff : 

Lord, Lord, bow this world is given to lying! 

[Laughter.] 

Free trade! Carrying a charge of tariff tax of 40 per cent on 
4,000 articles of every day consumption! Think of that! 

Now, another matter I want to say a few words about to you 
gentlemen over there, and they are the words of truth and sober- 
ness. You vaunt yourselves as great patriots! You insinuate 
that you are greater patriots than we are! You intimate that the 
Democratic party has never done anything for the country! You 
know that the greatest Democrat that ever lived added the Louisi- 
ana purchase to the Union — the most remarkable transaction in 
real estate that was ever proposed on this earth since the devil 
took the Saviour up to the top of a high mountain and offered Him 
dominion of the world if He would fall down and worship him. 
[Laughter.] 

A Democratic Administration took Texas into the Union. A 
Democratic Administration added Florida to the Union. And 
•what have the Republicans added? Alaska! A country so cold 
that the polar bear has to wear an overcoat to keep from freezing. 
[Groat laughter.] 

You talk like you brought on this war. This is not a Republican 
war, but an American war. My Republican friends, we took you 
by the scruff of the neck and dragged you into it, and that will 
be the verdict of history. We started the fire among the people, 
and they heated you so hot that at last you had to go into it or go 
out of business. 

Nobody but an idiot wants war merely for the sake of war. 
None save a craven will shrink from a war necessary to the dig- 
nity and lienor of his country. 

In my judgment, if cither Cleveland or McKinley had recog- 
nized the belligerent rights of the Cubans at any time prior to the 
destruction of the Maine and the assassination of 2GGof our brave 
sailors, there never would have been any war. 



9 

There never was a case in which the old saying, "A stitch in 
time saves nine," applied more thoroughly than to tliis. Nobody 
ever doubted our right— strictly according to international law— 
to recognize their belligerent rights without offense to anybody 
xmtil we, or at least a part of us, began to doubt it ourselves. 

But the war is upon us. It is a piece of supreme impudence for 
Republicans to try to make it appear that they are more patriotic 
than the Democrats. The claim is false, absolutely false. 

The Morgan belligerency resolutions passed the Senate about a 
year ago, and here. they slept the sleep that knows no waking. 

Last summer the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. McMillin] 
tried to call up those resolutions, and he was ruled out of order by 
the Speaker. 

In January my colleague from Missouri, Judge De Armoxd, 
offered an amendment to the dif)lomatic and consular appropria- 
tion bill declaring "that a state of war exists between the people 
of Cuba and the Kingdom of Spain. " After a long and bitter figh; 
his amendment was defeated by a strict party vote. 

Some time later my distinguished friend from Texas [Mr. 
Bailey] offered a resolution recognizing the independence of the 
Cuban Eepublic. This was ruled out of order as a privileged 
question by the Speaker, and upon an appeal from his decision 
the ruling was sustained by a strict party vote. 

Then divers and sundry members offered all sorts of resolutions 
on the subject, varying from a proposition to send a minister 
plenipotentiary to represent us in Cuba to a flat declaration of 
war, all of which remained in a comatose condition in the Com- 
mittee on Foreign Affairs until after the President sent in his 
second special message on the Cuban question, which contained 
an elaborate argument against recognizing Cuban independence, 
and which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. 

After sore travail, after much conferring of certain Republican 
members, after the appointment of a steering committee, the ma- 
jority of the Committee on Foreign Affairs reported to this House 
certain resolutions very mildly and very vaguely suggesting the 
idea of independence, but not recognizing independence itself. 
The minority of the committee reported resolutions clear, une- 
quivocal, bold, recognizing the independence of the Cuban Repub- 
lic. The minority resolutions Vv'ere defeated by a strict party vote. 
3313 



10 

I think the majority of the committee deserve praise for puttiiig 
in the word " independent"' at all in the face of the Presidents 
message. 

The majority resolutions passed the House. Then ensued a con- 
test between the House and the Senate, which has become historic, 
and which eventuated in compromise resolutions which resembled 
the resolutions reported by the minority of the House Committee 
on Foreign Affairs more than they resembled those reported by 
the majority of that committee. We have supported every meas- 
ure necessary to the conduct of the war. We voted for the $.")0,- 
000,000 emergency bill and for the two new regiments of artillery 
for coast defense. 

At last came the war, which the American jjsople demanded. 

These are the facts of history. In the face of them it is a mon- 
umental exhibition of gall for the Republicans to insinuate that 
they are more patriotic than the Democrats. 

Your ex post facto patriotism is amazing to see. It reminds me 
of a remark made by Stilson Hutchins, proprietor of the Wash- 
ington Times, when he was editor of the St. Louis Times, which 
ran in this wise: "Col. James O. Broadhead may be a very great 
constitutional lawyer, but his ideas come to him by freight 
twenty- four hours after he needs them." 

So with Republican patriotism; it was very much belated, but 
since you have become patriotic, even at the eleventh hour, we 
welcome you to the ranks of patriots on the iDrinciple, " Better late 
than never; " but I submit that it is with bad grace that yoii 
make your flings at us, and, what is more, you will not hoodwink 
the American people by such preposterous capers, for the all-suffi- 
cient reason that they are not idiots. Your record and our rec- 
ord are before the world. Democrats are proud of their record of 
patriotism. It is one to which our children and our children's 
children can look back to with ineffable pride through all the 
years that are to come. 

Now, what about this revenue bill? You came here and pro- 
posed to saddle a bonded, interest-bearing debt of §009,000,000 on 
my children and yours. 

We say we are willing to vote every dollar necessary to carry 
the war to a speedy and successful conclusion, but that a bonded 



11 

debt is not necessary, and we offer to coin the $42,000,000 silver 
seigniorage now in the Treasury; to vote $150,000,000 in full le^ral- 
tender greenbacks, and to levy an income tax on all incomes above 
62,000, which would raise $90,000,000 more annually without one 
dollar of interest. We offer you all the money the Government 
needs, but you reject our propositions. We offer you a non- 
interest bearing currency. Nothing will do you but an interest- 
bearing debt. There we part company. We offer you abundant 
money to carry on the war; but you are bent on a debt carrying 
$18,000,000 of interest annually. Indeed, you appear more intent 
upon getting this interest than you do upon conducting the war 
to a speedy and glorious end. 

The gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Hopkins] in reply to a ro- 
mark of Mr. Bland, quoted Abram S. Hewitt's saying about coin- 
ing a vacuum. If you are going into the business of coining vac- 
uums, you ought to begin with the vacuums inside the Repub- 
lican heads in this House. You would never get through with it. 
[Laughter.] But here we have §42,000,000 of idle silver in our 
Treasury. Why do you not coin it? Why do you not? Are you 
so afraid of your masters that you do not dare to use your own? 

I am not going to make a silver speech. I have not time 
enough. I never laid any great claim to practical piety, but L 
do believe, as firmly as any man that ever lived, in an over- 
ruling Providence, and I believe that when God created this 
world He did nothing in vain, and when He gave us more gold 
and silver than He gave to anybody else on the face of the earth 
He intended us to use it. And yet here we are, the strongest na- 
tion on the globe, with 75,000,000 people, with illimitable resources, 
and we sit down pusillanimously, like a lot of idiots, and say that 
we are not gomg to coin our own silver until we get the consent 
of every little 8 by 10 kingdom in Europe, some of them not as 
big as the District of Columbia; and in doing that we are act- 
ing with just about as much sense and not one whit more than 
the man who would sit down on the banks of the Mississippi River 
and die of thirst, refusing to drink of its refreshing waters because 
the inhabitants of tl:e African desert can not come and drink with 
him. 

We offer you an income tas — the fairest and justest tax ever 

imposed. It is a monstrous proposition that the abnormal wealth 
C342 



12 

of the country shall not tear its just proportions of the public 
burdens. We give you fair -warning that we will never rest till 
we get an income tax. 

You Republicans fight it tooth and nail. You have suddenly 
conceived a pathetic affection and wonderful reverence for the 
Supreme Court. You seem to regard it now as a sacred institu- 
tion, not even to be criticised by anybody without sin. 

When did you change your mind so suddenly? Abraham Lin- 
coln was not only a wise man, but a very gentle one. He de- 
nounced the Dred Scott decision. That is not all of it. I did not 
help make the greenbacks; I was too young. You Republicans 
made them. Then, when that case came up, to test the constitu- 
tionality of the law, five judges decided the legal-tender act uncon- 
stitutional and three held it to be constitutional. It would never 
do in the world for the Republican party to have such a decision 
stand. What happened? One of the five judges resigned to go to 
practicing law, and that only left four. 

If President Grant appointed a man in his place in favor of the 
legal tenders, that made it four and four, and the decision against 
their constitutionality would stand. Congress went to work and 
passed a law reorganizing the Supreme Court of the United States, 
increasing the number of judges to nine, and General Grant ap- 
pointed Justice Strong and "Aliunde " Joe Bradley, of New Jersey, 
and they reversed the decision. You not only reorganized the 
court, but you packed it. And yet we are denounced as anarchists 
because you say that we want to reorganize the Supreme Court. 

Now, if you can reorganize it once, why can not you do it 
again? If you packed it once, why can not you do it again? I 
want to tell you all I have got to say about greenbacks, and will 
do it in very few words. If they were good enough money to pay 
men during the civil war to leave their wives and homes and little 
children and risk their lives on a thousand battlefields in defense of 
their countrj', they are good enough money topay to the gentlemen 
who recline in the shade of Wall street and make their living by 
cutting gold coupons off of coin bonds. [Laughter and applause.] 

Let me refer to one thing that was said over yonder the other 
night— by some gentleman from Connecticut, I believe. He said 
that if the Government should now go into issuing greenbacks, 

8313 



13 

they would depreciate as tliey did during the civil war. I tell 
you that a man who would say a thing like that either has soften- 
ing of the brain or treason in his cardiac region. 

\Yhat made the greenbacks depreciate? I will tell you. Be- 
cause there was danger that this Government would be broken up, 
and they depreciated just in proportion as that danger grew im- 
minent. The happiest day that the goldbugs saw during the civil 
war was when a man could climb iip to the Dome of the Capitol 
and see the glint of old Jubal Early's bayonets down in Virginia. 
Why, sir, there was not a rebel anywhere on earth during tlie war 
who prayed for victory for Lee as the goldbugs prayed for it. 
Why? If Lee gained a victory, gold went up, and they made a 
fortune. 

If Grant gained a victory, gold went down, and they lost a for- 
tune. And if there is any such thing as gambling in Spanish 
stocks— I do not know whether there is or not— those vv^ho are 
interested in that investment are now in sackcloth and ashes be- 
cause brave Commodore Dewey has set the Stars and Stripes 
floating victoriously in Asiatic waters. 

You need not have any apprehension about our getting m a hoie 
about the bond business. The people of the United States do not 
want bonds; they do not propose to have them; they do not want 
them any more than they want national banks, and you were 
never able to establish a national bank except as an aid to war 
and to pay the war debt after you got through with a war. 

Now, if you Avant to know what we are going to do, if it wlU 
be any pleasure, I vv'ill tell you; and in doing so, I believe I am 
speaking for the Democratic party of this country. One consola- 
tion about this whole business is that time fights for us. When 
the nest census is taken, which is only two years off, we will gain 
30 members in this House and 30 votes in the electoral college 
west of the I»Iississippi River. 

I will tell you what we are going to do, and it is a short-meter 
story. We will buy no more Presidential pigs in pokes. Next 
time we will know what we are getting. We intend to get to- 
gether in 1900 and not only reaffirm the Chicago platform, but 
readopt it word for word, without abating one jot or one tittle, 
and place upon it our brilliant and well-beloved leader, William 
3342 



14 

J. Bryan, and elect him [applause on the Democratic side] , thereby 
ushering in the twentieth century, as we did the nineteenth 
century, with a Democratic administration, [Applause on the 
Democratic side.] 

Now, Mr. Speaker, I am about through with this business. I 
said if either party had a right to claim this war as its own, it 
is the Democratic party. I glory in it, and in that I include 
the Pops and Free Silverites, because on this war question we are 
all one substantially. [Laughter on the Republican side.] I 
rejoice in what has already happened in this war, and I make this 
prediction now— not abusing or criticising anybody— that if the 
Administration will take the reins off of Commodore Sampson in 
Cuban waters and let him have free swing as Commodore Dewey 
had, in ten days from now the Stars and Stripes will be waving 
over every foot of the Island of Cuba and peace will be restored. 
Mr. Speaker, the first battle has been fought. It added a new 
glory to American arms. I do not know whether Commodore 
Dewey is a Democrat or a Republican or a Populist, and I do 
not care. He is an American. 

Mr. CUMMINGS. He was born in Vermont. 

Mr. CLARK of Missouri. Some of the best Democrats that 
ever lived are born in Vermont. Democrats that can march up to 
the polls in season and out of season, fodder or no fodder, with- 
out the hope of any reward except the approval of their con- 
sciences, and vote the Democratic ticket are good Democrats. 
[Laughter.] 

Now, I want to read you a paragraph as a part of my remarks, 
Bome of the best English I have ever seen, from the New York 
Journal, and what it says about that fight. It stirs the heart like 
strains of martial music. It will make you Republicans patriotic. 
You come herewith the words of patriotism on your lips, but with 
sordid greed in your hearts, taking advantage of the extremities 
of the Government, and try to fasten on the country six hundred 
millions of bonded debt which our children will not live long 
enough to pay. 

Mr. LACEY. Will the gentleman allow me a question? 

Mr. CLARK of Missouri. Yes. 

Mr. LACEY. I would like to ask my friend if he docs not 
3ii2 



15 

think it would be a great calamity for bis speech to he published 
in Madrid, and to show that this House is divided? 

Mr. CLARK of Missouri. No, sir; it will have the best eflfect 
on the Spaniards of anything that ever got to them, if they will 
publish this speech over there. [Laughter.! It will show them 
that the only rivalry here is to see who is the most patriotic. 

What I say is in a line with what Dewey did. He has won a 
place in history Vt'ith Paul Jones, Perry, Farragut, and Lord 
Nelson. 

Now I v>'ant to read you this from the New York Journal, and 
then I am going to quit— not because I am through, but because I 
am speaking in borrowed time: 

The news of the surrender is not yet as esplicit as that of the great naval 
combat that preceded it. 

The capitulation is to be a matter of a few words. The battle was full of 
heroic deeds. 

London stands amazed at the intrepidity of the Americans, and evcry- 
where are heard such expressions as— 

"They're the fighting stuff!" 

"Give us an alliance with the Americans, and we'll defy the world!"' 

"Those chaps are of our blood, you know!" 

"That's the way! Sit tight and give it 'em!" 

It was supposed that the mines at the mouth of Manila Bay would deter 
Admiral Dewey. At most it was expected that he would stand off and on, 
establishing a "peaceful blockade," such as Admiral Sampson has fiddled 
with off Havana. 

But here is the translation of part of a long dispatch which reached the 
Foreign Office in cipher, and which, though not intended for publication, 
was good-naturedly given out by an official whose pro-American sympathies 
have caused his comrades to call him "The Yankee Secretary." The dis- 
patch ran: 

"In the blask of night Capt. Charles Gridley, of the Olympia, which was 
leading the American squadron, reported to Rear- Admiral Dewey: 

" ' We are now approaching the entrance to Manila Bay.' 

" 'Steam ahead!' came the admiral's response. 'Signal the fleet to follow!' 

"'■We are now coming to the portion of the entrance supposed to have 
been mined,' was the captain's next report. 

" ' Steam ahead!' was the admiral's order. 

There was a light from the land and the boom of a great gun. From the 
little cruiser Raleigh came the signals: 

" The batteries of Cavite have opened fire!" 

"Steam ahead! Follow me!" flashed back the Admiral. 

"A shot from Rulocabilla just fell ahundred yards ahead,'" reported Com- 
mander Asa Walker, of the Concord, which was astern and to the windward 
of the Baltimore. 

" Save your powder!" ordered Admiral Dewey in reply. 

Just in the peek of the dawn the Spanish fleet was discovered under the 
bastioned banks of Cavite. 

"Remember the J/auie.'" flamed the message from the Olijmx>ia. 

As the subtropic dawn broke suddenly, the same dread battle slogan of 
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revenge flickered and fluttered from the flagship's yard above the figliting 
top. 

The Spaniards began flring before the morning fairly broke. In fact, they 
had been booming and sputtering ever since the first random gun had an- 
nounced the approach of the American squadron. 

Much of their firo was wasted. Admiral Dewey paid no attention to the 
shots which fell short of him, but arranging his line of battle, with the Oli/m- 
pia and Baltimore in the van, made straight for the Spanish fleet. 

Cavitc, with Its batteries and arsenal, the island forts of Rulocabilla and 
Corrogidor, and the ancient guns on the walls about the old town of Manila, 
were by this time in full thunder. But the Americans came on, with their 
grim signal flying, and the band playing "The Star-Spangled Banner," 
"Dixie," and something v,-hich sounded to English ears very like " God Save 
the Queen." 

[Applause.] 

Ah, Mr. Speaker, Democrats do not shrink from calHiog this an 
American or even a Democratic war; and I thank God that we 
have had the nerve, the courage, the patriotism, the sagacity to 
drive you gentlemen on the other side of the House into a patri- 
otic position before this country and before the world. [Loud 
applause.] 

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